A Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety & Licensing Board has denied a request by the Chattooga River Watershed Coalition and three individuals for a hearing on Duke Energy Corporation's license renewal application for the Oconee nuclear power plant in South Carolina.

The licensing board, ruling that four contentions filed by three members of the coalition lacked merit, dismissed their petition to intervene in the licensing proceeding. The ruling may be appealed directly to the Commission.

Duke Energy filed an application on July 6 to renew for 20 years the operating license for its three Oconee plants, 30 miles west of Greenville, South Carolina. The operating license for Oconee Units 1 and 2 will expire in 2013; the operating license for Unit 3 will expire in 2014.

The Chattooga River Coalition was the only group that requested a public hearing on the license renewal application.

The text of the licensing board memorandum and order will be posted on the NRC's Internet homepage at: http:/www.nrc.gov.